EPA and Army sign final rule to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule

WASHINGTON (September 12, 2019) - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army (Army) announced today the signing of a final rule (Step 1 Final Rule) to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule and restore the regulatory regime that existed prior to the 2015 Rule. Today's Step 1 Final Rule is in keeping with President Trump's Executive Order 13778, "Restoring the Rule of Law, Federalism, and Economic Growth by Reviewing the 'Waters of the United States' Rule." Prior to today's rule, a patchwork of regulations existed across the country as a result of various judicial decisions enjoining the 2015 Clean Water Rule. Today's final rule reestablishes national consistency across the country by returning all jurisdictions to the longstanding regulatory framework that existed prior to the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which many regulatory agencies, States, Tribes, local governments, regulated entities, and the public are familiar with. This final rule also provides regulatory certainty, while the agencies engage in the second step of rulemaking (Step 2 Proposed Rule) to revise the definition of "waters of the U.S." The Step 2 Proposed Rule was published in the Federal Register on February 14, 2019, and public comments were received through April 15, 2019. EPA and Army are currently reviewing more than 600,000 comments received before taking final action. For more information on the "Waters of the U.S" rulemaking, please visit http://www.epa.gov/wotus-rule.

For questions about a pending jurisdictional determination or permit, we ask that you contact your local U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Office. Office information can be found at http://regulatory-ops.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/.